Automatic resilient-pressure-fitting piston-ring construction for the pistons of automobile and other engines



July 7, 1925 1,544,759

- C. E. JOHNSON AUTOMATIC RESILIENT PRESSURE FITTING PISTON RING CONSTRUCTION FOR THE PISTONS 0F AUTOMOBILE AND OTHER' ENGINES Filed March 21, 1924 lllllllll In j- Patented July 7, 1925.

PATENT OFFICE;

CHAIQLES E. JOHNSON, 01! DENVER, COLORADO.

AUTOMATIC nnsrmm-rnmsunn-mrrme PISTON-RING CONSTRUCTION FOR THE PISTONS AUTOMOBILE AND OTHER ENGINES.

Application filed larch 21, 1924. Serial No. 700,849.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. JOHNSON,

a citizen of the United States of America,

residing at the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Automatic Resilient-Pressure- Fitting Piston-Ring Construction for the Pistons of Automobile and Other Engines, of which the follo'wing is a specification. My invention relates to a new automatic resihent pressure fitting piston rin construction for the pistons o automobi e and otherv engines.

And the objects of my invention are First: To provide a piston ring construction in which preferably the middle and the lower piston rings are held under constant resilient pressure against the lower shoulder of the oove in the iston in which the iston rlng sets; and t e lower piston ring is held under constant resilient pressure against the upper shoulder of the groove in the piston in whichthe lower piston .ring

sets.

Second: To provide a new iston ring construction in which the mid e and the lower piston rings on the piston illustrated are he d' under sidewise resilient pressure against one of the shoulders of the grooves in which they are confined, and at the same time the piston rin are held with an additional outward clrcumferential pressure against the inner circumferential wall of the cylinder.

Third: To provide an automatically operating self-tightening iston ring construction t at resiliently o lds the plston rings ti ht against one of the walls or shoulders of the grooves in which they are confined; and to'provide piston rings with narrower c linder bearing surfaces than the width of t e rings; and. to provide a combination of the piston rings and piston by which oil from the oil reservoir of the automobile 5 circulates freely into the lower piston ring groove and around the piston ring.

I attain these objects, by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a vertical sectional, View through an ordinary internal combustion engine piston, equipped with the improved piston IlIlgS.

Figure 2 is a side view of the piston shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of one of the improved piston rmgs, showing the pressure spring which fits in an annular recess formed in the said ring. Figure 4 is an edge view of the pressure spring.

Figure 5 is an enlarged view of one end portion of the piston ring, showing more clearly the annular recess for the pressure spring.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throufhout theseveral views.

Re erring to the drawings The numeral 1 desi nates a piston of the cylinder of an automo ile; 2 designates piston ring circumferential ooves 1n the piston 1; and 3 and 4 designates the piston rings that fit in the grooves 2 and 2 of the piston[ My piston rings 3 are made to fit snugly, but at the-same time free enough to expand and contract in the. grooves 2 of'the plston 1, and they are made of any suitable metal, resilient steelvor tough elastic cast iron being preferred.

preferably make my piston rings of a little larger diameter inside than the diameter of the grooves in the piston, and a little larger in diameter on the outside than the piston, so that when they are to be put in their grooves in the piston they will ave to be sprung out large enough in diameter to go over the outside of the piston and when they come opposite to the grooves 2 the will spring down into them and be a litt e larger in diameter on their inside diameter and a little larger in diameterLon their outside diameter than the piston.

I preferably only use three piston rings in the piston 1, illustrated; the middle ring 3 and the lower ring 40f which are provided with my resilient shoulder engaging construction, and the upper one is a plain On the side 10 of each piston rin that is to stand opposite to the shoulder of the upper and the middle grooves 2 and 2 of the piston 1, I form a counterbored square shouldered recess 11, which is made a little deeper than the depth of a-thin flat elastic ring 12, which is made of resilient spring steel.

This flat spring steel ring, however, is made with several sidewise convolutions 13 in its length, four being illustrated, and it is a little larger in diameter than the inside of the recess 11 in the ring 3 in which it fits snugly and with a very slight outward resilient pressure. As it has, to be sprung together slightly in order to insert it in the recessll 1n the ring, consequently it exerts an outward resilient pressure on the rin as well as the sidewise pressure on one si e of the ring that holds 1t against the shoulders 6 and 6 of the grooves. I

The sidewise convolutions 13 in this flat ring are preferably about an eighth of an inchdeep from what would be the straight side plane of this laterally springing rmg 13 if it was flattened out flat, but the springing convolutions in it can be made either dee er than an eighth of an inch if desired, an the diameter of the piston and the rin would govern the depth of these lateral y springing convolutions on this ring 12.

These offset convolutions 13 of this laterally springing ring 12 bear with a resilient pressure against the shoulders 14 and 15 of the grooves 2 and 2- and they press the sides 16 and 17 of the piston rings 4 and 5 against the shoulders land 7 of the grooves 2 and 2 with pressure to make a ractically tight and a thoroughly non-rattling piston ring; and a piston ring tight enough to prevent the explosive gases from blowing between its groove shoulder engaging side and itself and around the ring and past it to the ring below it; and this resilient pressure or" one side of the middle and lower rings 3 and a will prevent an excess of oil from passing these rings to above the piston to the top of the cylinder and will thus prevent the accumulation of a harmful amount of carbon in the cylinder.

' My piston ring construction contemplates any character of overlapping joint at the free meeting ends 18'and 19 of my rings, but I preferably provide each end with a s hare shouldered recess 20 on the opposite si es of the opposite ends that overlap each other when the rings are in their operative position in the grooves of the piston and in the cylinder of an automobile or other engine, and thus prevent the passage of the expansive gases of the explosions from passing them through their meeting ends.

In constructing m piston rings I preferably bevel ofi the si cs 23, as shown in Figures 1 and 5 so that only a narrow part of the rings bears against the adjacent wall of the grooves. The object of this construction is to reduce the surface of the sides of 'the' rings, and thus have less surface on the rings for carbon to collect on.

The bottom of the lower groove 2 is rovided with small oil holes 21 that exten to the interior of the hollow center 22 of the piston 1, which holes admit oil from the interior of the lower groove that splashes up into the interior of the cylinder and works past the free side of the lower ring into the lower groove.

The operation of my automatic-side pressure ring construction in addition to its regular circumferential resilient expansion and that imparted by the additional circumferential expanding pressure of my sidewise resilient pressure ring is clearly described above, but I will add to it the description of the manner of assembling the ring and its convolution sidewise resilient ring into the grooves of the piston, which is as follows The sidewise resilient ring is first inserted in the square shouldered recess formed in the piston ring to receive it, and it is held there by thefingers of both hands, and at the same time the piston ring is expanded until both rings are expanded it passes over the outside diameter of the piston, then it is pushed along the surface of the piston until the groove into which it is to be placed is reached; then it is necessary that the sidewise resilient ring be pressed into the piston ring until it will enter the groove of the piston, into which it naturally contracts to 1ts normally made size but is held constantly by the sidewise expanding resilient pressure of the springing convolutionsof the ring 12 against the shoulders 7 and 7 of the roove 2" of the grooves of the piston 1. li preferably assemble the middle ring with its ring spring holding it against the lower shoulder of the groove 2, and the lower ring with its ring s ring holding it up against the upper shoul er of the groove of the piston '1.

My invention is very simple in construe tion and inexpensive to make and provides explosive-gas-tight and at the same time non-rattling piston rings.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a hollow piston having a packing-ring groove and holes leading from said groove to the interior of the piston of a split ring in said groove having an annular recess in one of its horizontal faces, and a split corrugated spring interposed between the face of said annular recess and the opposing face of said groove.

2. The combination with a hollow piston having a packing-ring oove and down wardly inclined holes eading from the lowest point of said groove to the interior between the face of said annular recess and the opposing face of said groove which 1s adopLed to hold said ring in eontaotwith the upper wall of said groove, thereby permitting oil which works into said groove to pass through said downwardly inclined holes to the interior of the cylinder.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES E. JOHNSON. \Vit-nesses:

G. SARGENT ELLlo'rr, ELIZABETH SMITH. 

